Luminous gas discharge tube, more particularly for advertising purposes



Jan. 29, 1957 o. FAUST 2,779,889

LUMINOUS GAS DISCHARGE TUBE, MORE PARTICULARLY FOR ADVERTISING PURPOSES Filed April 4, 1952 LGEWE Inveman United dttes Patent LUIllilNUUS GAS DICHARGE TUBE, MORE PAR- TICULARLY FGR ADVERTlSlNG PURPGSES ltto Faust, Berlin-Ncukolin, Germany Application April 4, 1952, Serial No. 236,547

1 Claim. (Cl. 313-1tl9.5)

The present invention relates to luminous gas discharge tubes, as employed particularly for advertising purposes, and refers to an advantageous development of the luminous gas discharge tube described in my application Serial No. 198,928 filed December 4, 1950, and now abandoned. In this application a luminous gas discharge tube has been described wherein one or more supports are arranged inside the tube which are coated with fluorescent material and irradiated by the incident or transmitted light of the gas discharge, thereby rendering possible an advertising effect. There, those sign carrier plates are made out of insulating material, particularly of glass.

It is the object of the present invention to further develop the luminous gas discharge tube disclosed in the above mentioned application so that different advantages are attained as compared with the former tube design. According to the invention, in a luminous gas discharge tube containing one or more supports coated with fluorescent material which is caused to become luminescent by the emission of the gas discharge within the tube, these supports are made of metal and are arranger inside the gas discharge space but insulated from the electrodes. These metallic supports insulated from the electrodes also serve, according to this invention, as auxiliary ignition electrodes without providing further additional means. By this structure, firstly a special additional device for warranting the ignition (auxiliary ignition device) will be saved. The longitudinal support acts in the same manner as e. g. a conductive layer stripe applied to the inside of the glass bulb which serves as an auxiliary ignition device. This metallic support is provided with the signs which shall be made visible (advertising or propaganda signs). In the luminous advertising tubes hitherto proposed by the applicant the support was transparent as has been mentioned already before so that advertising letters or signs could be applied only to one side of the plate. A metallic support corresponding to this invention, however, allows the arrangement of advertising letters and luminous phosphors on both sides of the plate. Therefore, at this invention, the positive gas discharge column must be provided in front of the carrier plate for achieving the luminous effect, and furthermore the positive gas discharge column must be provided on both sides of the support in order to attain the luminous effect on both side of the support plate. Thus, by this structure, as it were, two luminous tubes are combined in only one without providing, however, two separated gas discharge spaces.

By the luminous tube corresponding to this invention it is rendered possible to show in only one luminous tube different advertising effects according as the luminous tube is looked on from the front or from the back side.

The advertising or propaganda signs can be applied without any difficulties to the metallic carrier plate, e. g. by means of spraying or other known methods.

Furthermore, the surface of the metallic sign support can be submitted to a galvanic or mechanical treatment for increasing the reflecting power of the surface and achieving a more intense luminous effect. Thus, e. a layer of galvanic nickel can be applied and a polished surface can be achieved by means of bulling. In this manner, a better reflector effect can be attained.

The invention will now be described in detail in connection with the drawings showing, by way of example, one design of the luminous gas discharge tube correspond ing to the invention. Fig. 1 shows the frontal view of the luminous advertising tube and Fig. 2 the top view of the same tube. Part 1 is the metallic sign support which is arranged inside the glas bulb 2 and carries the advertising signs. Parts 3 and 4 are the two frontal, and parts 5 and 6 the two backside electrodes between which the gas discharge columns are generated, one in front of the sign support 1 and the other behind it; by means of this gas discharges the layer of advertising letters consisting e. g. of phosphors and ceramic paints, is caused to become luminous. 9, 10, and 11, 12 are the lead-in wires which lead through the glass-pinches 13 and 14 to the electrodes and which are fed with operating voltage, for example from the mains.

The support 1 is held, in a manner already known, within the glass bulb of the tube by means of holding devices 7 and 8 which are fixed c. g. at the ends of the support. The holding devices for the support 1 can also be fixed at the glass-pinches 13 and 14- insulated from the electrodes and lead-in wires.

For claritys sake, the holding devices 7 and 8 have been omitted in Fig. 2.

Furthermore, it is possible to arrange at each end of the luminous tube only one electrode and to design and mount these electrodes in such a manner, with reference to the support, that the gas discharge column is generated simultaneously in front of the support and behind it. Because of its opaqueness the support can be provided on both of its flat sides with lettering or advertising signs which can also differ one from another.

Summing up, the luminous gas discharge tube corresponding to this invention has the following advantages:

(1) Owing to the employment of a metallic sign support, damage at transport is reduced as the glass plate hitherto used was much more fragile.

(2) The metallic sign support represents an extremely simple and reliable auxiliary ignition device.

(3) The brightness of the luminous eifect is intensified.

(4) Both sides of the luminous tube can be employed, if wanted also for different advertising texts.

What I claim is:

Electric gas discharge tube for displaying luminous signs, comprising a sealed transparent elongated bulb, containing a gas charge of known manner and electrodes located at opposite ends of said bulb between which a gas discharge is produced, a longitudinal support therein having fluorescent coatings provided thereon which are caused to become luminous by the emission of the positive gas discharge column within said bulb, said support consisting of an opaque metal plate being covered on both sides with fluorescent coating forming signs and being arranged inside the gas discharge space in longitudinal direction of the tube but insulated from said electrodes which are arranged at both sides of said support so that separate positive gas discharge columns are generated in front of both. sides of said support, each gas discharge column being energized from separate electrodes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,928,407 Batchelor Sept. 26, 1933 2,008,782 Brady July 23, 1935 2,112,854 Lucian Apr. 5, 1938 2,177,710 Gordon Oct. 31, 1939 2,225,712 Price Dec. 24, 1940 2,272,127 Noel Feb. 3, 1942 2,462,781 Schoenbaurn Feb. 22, 1949 2,509,071 Pennybacker May 23, 1950 

